Hannover, Germany/hannover330
Previous | Home | NextThe reverse of the uranium coin. The inscription is "Erstes Deutsches Uran aus Weissenstadter Torbernit-Erz" ("First German Uranium from Weissenstadt torbernite-ore"). Weissenstadt is a historic mining town 70 km north of Sulzbach-Rosenberg. Although Weissenstadt (N 50° 06' E 11° 53') is mostly known for its tin mines, there is one important uranium mine (Rudolfstein) 4 km south of Weissenstadt which produced the torbernite (copper uranium phosphate) which yielded the uranium for the coin. Uranium was originally discovered in torbernite {LINK: Johanngeorgenstadt 250}, despite the popular view in the scientific literature that it was originally discovered in pitchblende. The coin has been analyzed and is radium-free, but contains some thorium.
